Falling in Love

Confession: I have never “loved” the New Testament or even the Gospels. Paul’s rhetoric seemed dry, Revelation was a puzzle and a half, and the differences between the details of the Gospels messed with my overall sense of orderliness. Something about the New Testament was out there just beyond my grasp. I didn’t get it.

Of course, we all have to take a New Testament class. While I expected a good class, I maintained a sense of foreboding that I would have to do a lot of my own work to make this subject make sense. How wrong I was! The New Testament class has become the surprise “hit” of the semester. In only a few classes I discovered what I really didn’t know about the New Testament was the culture of the people in it. I didn’t know much about their real world. Learning just a little about the context has knitted together some of the loose yarns that, for me, surround the Gospels and Letters. I don’t have all the questions answered, but at least I know better how to look for some answers.